Pretense
by Laurie Eve
Summary: Margaret has a secret and Hawkeye is trying to uncover it. Will Hawkeye and Margaret find what they want or lose everything that matters most? HM
1. Spying

**"Pretense"**

**Summary**: Are things really what they seem?

**Pairing**: Hawkeye/Margaret

**AN:** This is my first fan fiction, so don't judge too harshly please. I welcome feedback to improve my writing. I also don't own the characters or the show.

- - - - - - - -

Everything was quiet in camp. The only sound that could be heard was that of the crickets chirping their nightly melody. Suddenly, an ambulance came flying through the compound its horn blaring loudly. That was enough to wake the occupants of the Swamp. With all thought of sleep gone the doctors and nurses made their way to the operating room.

"Couldn't they have waited until morning?" Hawkeye muttered as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"If they did that, it wouldn't be called peace." Was BJs annoyed response.

"They have to do something to remind us that we're still stuck in this _place_ and that it is not supposed to be civilized and an inconvenience to all" Charles explained sarcastically.

The OR was in full swing with everyone doing what they had been doing for what seemed like eternity. Finally, the last patient was carried into post-op, and many headed for the officers club. All, that is, except for Margaret.

Margaret was going in a totally different direction. The fact that she was not joining them did not go unnoticed by one particular individual. Curious to see where she was heading, Hawkeye excused himself from the group, and trailed after Margaret.

Thinking to himself as he walked, Hawkeye remembered noticing that Margaret seemed different in the OR that night. Then again, she had seemed different ever since they had come back from their trip to the 8063rd two weeks ago. Maybe it was the water they had been drinking, or maybe it was the food the had eaten.

But Hawkeye had eaten that food, and sipped the water, and he appeared fine...well, as fine as it gets for him. So it had to be something else but what? Hawkeye was determined to find the answer and help Margaret in any way he could.

Leaving camp was the easy part, now Margaret had to figure out how to accomplish what she had set out to do without anyone spying her doing it in the process.

She had never told anyone her most personal secret. The secret that she was a witch, and that her entire family were witches. While she was in OR, she had received an urgent message that she was needed at home. So heading to the tree where she hid her broom, she quickly flew off into the sky. The only thing that went wrong was that in her hurry to get home, she forgot to make sure no one had followed her. Hawkeye looked up just in time to see her flying past.

'Rats! Well, so much for secrecy. I'll deal with him when I return later' Margaret said to herself.

She didn't want to do it to him. In fact, she wanted to tell him so badly that she almost couldn't stand herself. Margaret wanted somebody to know her secret so that she would have someone to bare her burden with her. She wanted true Friends, a true friend. But if anyone were to know that she was witch, she would cease to exist as a human.

Scientists would want to lock her up in a laboratory and run all

Kinds of tests that might kill her, if the towns' people didn't burn her to death first. This is why she had to erase Hawkeye's memory of her flying on her broom.

**Well? What does everyone thing? Was it worth reading? Please review!**


	2. Secrets

**Pretense**

**Chapter 2  
Secret known**

After Hawkeye had recovered from the shock of seeing Margaret fly past him on her broom, he slowly made his way back to the Swamp. As he was walking, he came to the conclusion that something was definitely different about Margaret, and he was going to find out.

"The only question is how do I find out Margaret's secret without her knowing what I'm up to?" He asked himself curiously.

But what Hawkeye didn't know was that Margaret was already planning to erase his memory of Margaret flying on her broom. With two people not knowing what the other was about to do it only meant one thing: lot's of emotional confrontation.

- - - - - -- - - - -- - -

As Margaret's home finally came into view, she sighed with relief.

"One more safe flight home" She said out loud to her broom, as she slid off it to the ground.

Once she was inside her house, the family members that were already waiting for her were not in a good mood. It seemed that in order for Margaret to remain in the mortal world, she needed to get married. Margaret was stunned, who could she marry that would make her happy and be good for her and love her for her, not some damn love potion.

"Margaret, sweetheart I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it's for your own protection that we're making you do this. I can't be around the mortal world forever to be there to watch over and protect you." Her father was saying.

But she didn't hear much of what he was telling her. Her thoughts were on a certain black haired doctor back at the 4077th. The members of her family didn't say that the person she had to marry _HAD_ to be a warlock, so that meant that the person she chose to marry could be either a warlock or a mortal. This was the first good thought that ran through her mind.

Her mother was talking to her now. "Darling, we only want the best for you, and we want you to be happy. That's why you _must_ get married." She sighed, almost regrettably, before continuing "We will give you one month to find a suitable man. If in the course of one month, you still have not found the man of your liking, your father and I will do it for you. I'm sorry it has to be like this, but you know that the "code of magic powers" says it must be done."

"I know mother, I just never thought I could have gotten so _old_ as to have to have that rule invoked upon me." Margaret answered thirty was _that_ old…"But, if I can figure out a way, I already have someone in mind." A smile dance on her lips of the mere thought of him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Back at camp, it was getting late, and there had been no sign of Margaret. Hawkeye had camped himself in a spot in the field that hid him from view, but gave him great sight of the where Margaret would appear. Finally, as sleep came to claim him, he heard a humming noise. That could only mean one thing: Margaret was returning back from wherever it was she had gone. After she had landed and hidden her broom and was walking back to camp, he decided to catch her in the act.

"Hello, Margaret. Where have you been" he asked, deciding that the direct approach was the best way to start this conversation.

"Damn it, Hawkeye! You scared me out of my mind!" she yelled and smacked him in the stomach.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." he breathed in heavily, recovering from lost air, "But now that you know I'm here, why don't you answer my question instead of avoiding, running form things isn't fun?" he asked sarcastically.

"I...uh…umm…I… I don't have to answer to the likes of you! Who do you think you are, my father?" she asked defensively. '_Great Margaret. Now he won't stop pestering you_.' Her mind thought.

"Okay, okay don't get upset! Geese, I was just asking a question. You don't have to answer truthfully if you don't want to." He replied slightly agitated "Or at all…"

At this point, Margaret remembered that earlier she needed to erase Hawkeye's mind of the memory he would have of her flying on her broom. Yet now, she wasn't so sure she wanted to go through with her plan.

Margaret really wanted to tell someone everything she was forced to keep secret. Hawkeye seemed like the only mortal she had ever been able to trust in the time she had spent in the mortal world. '_Well, here goes. I'm going to be honest with him and hope that he doesn't laugh in my face_' she though to herself.

"The truth? You really want to know the truth?" She asked almost dramatically.

"Well, I've always found that the truth is the best place to start when something is bothering someone. And believe me, Margaret, I can tell that something is bothering you." Hawkeye answered.

"What makes you say that?" Margaret questioned him.

"The fact that you've been playing with that same piece of grass for the last past minutes without setting it down." He replied smartly.

'_I can't do this anymore. I need to tell him! I have to tell him!'_ she thought to herself.

"Okay, if I tell you the truth, do you promise not to laugh in my face?" she asked him seriously.

"Come on Margaret, you know me better than that. I would never knowingly hurt you if I could help it. But if it makes you feel better, then yes, I promise not to laugh at whatever you're about to tell me." He was slightly offended that she would think of him like that.

"Well, the truth is…is that I'm…I'm a…a... I'm a witch!" she said quickly.

**What will Hawkeye's response be now that Margaret has been honest with him?**

**So, how was this chapter? I hope it was worth reading and reviewing.  
Laurie**.


	3. Findings

**A/N:** Please review if you read, this is my first fanfic so I sppreciate the hints, ideas, thoughts, etc. Slighty shorter, but this chapter is more of a filler between chapters. Any way, enjoy and thanks!

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Mash, do you really think I'd be here, fantasing about the characters and toying with them? I think not!

- - - - - - - -- - -- -  
**Chapter 3  
Lending a hand, helping eachother.**

"So, you're a witch?" asked Hawkeye. "I thought there was something different about you. Why did you never tell anyone about this?"

She sighed, men. "Because if anyone found out, they wouldn't believe me, and if they did, they would want to lock me up like a caged animal and treat me like a science experiment instead of a person, and I couldn't stand that!" Margaret rambled out nervously, though she ended quite heatedly.

_There!_ She had finally revealed the most dreaded secret that had plagued her ever since she had entered the mortal world. Now, the question is; what will happen now that she had finally revealed it?

Margaret was standing there trying to avoid looking into Hawkeye's face. She still wasn't sure what he was thinking after what she had just told him. After an agonizing few seconds, she risked looking at him. What she saw there almost broke her heart.  
Hawkeye had a look of disbelief, and was ready to burst out laughing. When he finally recovered from his poor effort to contain his emotions, he expressed his thoughts.

"Wow! For a long time, I just thought you were a magician. You were able to do your work so quickly, and cleanly... I knew there must be more to you than meets the eye." He explained.

Hawkeye's thoughts were whirling inside his head: _'My Margaret is a witch. Wait! Did I just say MY Margaret? That's not right, she doesn't belong to me._' But the more he thought about it, the more he got used to the idea--both ideas. Did he really want her to be **HIS** Margaret? But, as he looked into Margaret's face, he could see that she was serious, and that what she desperately needed right now was a friend, not humor from him. So ignoring the ideas that filled his head, he turned his attention to what had worked Margaret up so.

"Okay, now that we have the awkwardness of confession over do you want to talk about what it is that has you worried?" Hawkeye asked.

"No, that's okay. I don't really think you could handle it right now anyway. But thank you for the offer." She answered as she turned and started to walk away.

'_No! She's walking away! I don't want her to walk away. I have to get her to talk to me. Quick, gotta think of something._' Hawkeye thought silently.

"Hey Margaret?"

"Yeah?" The weak tone forced her to turn around.

"Don't shut me out okay? Let me help you in any way that I can, please?" He pleaded

"Sure, but for now I think I'm just going to read a book." She smiled softly and walked back to her. tent.

**S'all folks, more coming. R/R please!**


	4. Uncertainty

Later that day, Hawkeye was walking around camp looking for anything to amuse him when he stopped in his tracks. Something was different in the particular spot where he stood. He couldn't quite put his finger on why he had a nagging feeling that something was about to happen, but as quickly as it had come to him, it dissappeared. Hawkeye dismissed the notion that something was wrong until about an hour later when he had it again. The only difference this time was that he was in a different spot. Although he wasn't quite what to do, but one thing was quite sure and that was that he was certain that Margaret played a roll in the weird feelings he was getting. All he had to do was figure out how she played into what had happened to him.

So, he did the only thing that sounded sensable, and went to Margaret's tent with the intention of trying to get her to tell him what was going on. When he reached her tent, he knocked softly and waited for her reply.

"Who's there?" was her soft inquiry.

"It's me, Hawkeye. May I come in?" he answered.

"Sure" she said.

He opended the door and stepped inside, and looked around her tent. It was decorated with a feminine touch, with pinks and purples and pastel colors everywhere. One thing he did notice though was the fact that a lot of the picutres on the walls weren't of ordianary people doing ordinary things, but those of odd looking life forms doing almost extremely impossible things.

Margaret noticed that he was just standing there and motioned him toward a chair. "So, what's on your mind?" she asked as he sat down.

"I was just wondering if you might know anything about these weird feelings I've been getting."

"You've been getting wierd feelings? What kind of weird feelings?" She questioned, but truth be told, she thought she might already know the answer to that question.

"Well, it's only happened twice, and in different places. But the main thing that I'm curious about is the feeling I get. It starts out sort of like a dream, but I've seen it before. Then, it changes all together and shows me somthing that I hope either happens or doesn't happen. That's the catch. When it's over, I don't know if I want it to happen or if I don't want it to happen. It's almost like I'm seeing the future." Hawkeye had gotten up from his chair and was pacing around Margaret's tent as he went into his explaination of the weird feeling he had experencied twice now.

"Hawkeye," Margaret began slowly taking a deep breath to calm herself as she was about to tell him the reason behind his new, but scary gift. "Do you remember that I told you I was a witch? Well, I think the reason you're having those wierd feelings is due in part to the fact that I'm supposed to find a spouse, and my family is trying to convince me that you are not the one for me. So, I think my father gave you those weird feelings to try to prove to everyone that if you were to marry into my family that you definately wouldn't survive at all. But the way you've responded just now by coming to me quitely and asking me about it only proves that you would do well in my family."

At this point, Hawkeye was so stunned that he didn't really know how to repsond. A million thoughts were racing through his head. But, all he could think about was one thing: "Margaret, if I were to marry into your family, does that mean I would eventually aquire magical abilites?"

She looked at him, thinking about the best way to answer his question. "I honestly don't know, Hawkeye. There hasn't been a mortal who's married into the family for three hundred years. But, if I remember correctly, he did have to prove himself capable and responsible enough to be allowed the privledges of being a warlock. So, I guess it would depend on you."

He contemplated her answer quietly for a while. Until now, he hadn't really thought about marring Margaret Houlihan. Sure, he did like her, she was one of his best friends. He just didn't know if he was ready to make a committ that big yet. But then he started thinking about Margaret and the situtation she was now in. How much time did she have before she had to find her spouse? What would happen to her if she didn't find one with in the time frame? As Hawkeye thought about this, he wondered if it would be in his best interest to propose to her than risk losing her forever.

AN: Sorry this chapter is so short, and a let-down. It's just a filler until I can come up with somthing better. Thanks for putting up with me. So, now that you've read it, go review it! Please!


	5. Thoughts

**AN/** Sorry it has taken me a very long time to add to the story. Please forgive me. I've had computer issues, and it's prohibited me from writing my story. I know this chapter's not very long, but I promise that there's more to come! Please R&R!

All the thoughts that were racing through Hawkeye's head were instantly erased when he suddenly realized that the think he wanted most in the entire world was Margaret. He took a second to let that realization catch up to him before he made the statement that he had been working on saying for a long time finally come out of his mouth.

"Margaret, will you marry me?" Hawkeye just blurted out.

"What did you say?" she asked in total disbelief.

"I said will you marry me?" he repeated. "Look, Margaret, we both know that we've had a strong attraction to each other for a very long time. Why don't we just make it permanent? Now, I know you've just shared a strange, but true secret with me, but I'm ready to accept who you are and what you are. And you know what? I love you more now than I did twenty minutes ago. Please say you'll marry me?"

"Wow!" sighed Margaret. "I guess there's only one answer for me to give, and that would be yes! Yes, Hawkeye, I would love to be your wife!"

Hawkeye was so happy, that all he could do was pick her up and swing her around the tent, all the while holding her close. He couldn't believe what war did to people. He was sent to that god forsaken land against his will, to do work that no one should ever have to do under terrible conditions. But, despite it all, he'd managed to find happiness…true happiness.

After a while Margaret was starting to think about her problem. She no longer had to worry about losing her family, or her powers. She was going to marry Hawkeye, and she had to admit to herself that the thought was a little scary. It wasn't scary because she really wanted to marry him. It was scary because now she had to introduce him to her family.

"Hawkeye, do you want to come with me to meet my family?" Margaret asked.

"Sure, I'd love to" was his quick, assured response.

"I should probably warn you that they're going to try to rip you to shreds with questions and criticism." She added quietly

"That's okay. I'm marrying you, not your family, and nothing they can do will pull us apart, or make me stop loving you."

Margaret was ready with a response "You say that now, but beware. My family has magic powers, remember? They might try things with you that you that you will never see coming. All I'm saying is be careful, okay?"

"Sure Margaret. I'll be careful."

**AN/** So, how will Hawkeye meeting Margaret's family go? Come back again to see what happens next!


	6. Choices

"Okay then, I'll go ask the Colonel for some R&R passes." Margaret said.

"Wait a second, Margaret. Let me ask you something before you go talk to the Colonel. Do you want to keep our relationship a secret from everyone else like you tried to with Frank, or are we just going to go about our business, and let whoever finds out about us know what's going on?"

Hawkeye did have a point, and the more Margaret thought about it, the more she just wanted a normal relationship. She didn't want to be the one dictating this relationship like she'd done with ones in the past, so she did the only sensible thing that popped into her head. She would let him decide what he wanted to do, and go from there.

"I'll let you decide. How would you like to make this work?"

He thought a moment before answering. "I think we should just keep our business to ourselves. If anyone finds out, then if need be, we can let everyone know what's going on. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great!" With that she rushed out of the tent and hurried to the Colonel's office, Hawkeye slowly making his way behind her.

When Margaret and Hawkeye got to Colonel Potter's office, he wasn't there, so they sat and waited for him to return.

"Colonel, we have something we'd like to say!" they said in unison when the Colonel entered the office.

Taken aback by the sudden outburst from his Chief Surgeon, and Head Nurse, he took a moment to study them to make sure nothing was wrong with them. "What's on your minds?"

Hawkeye was the first to speak "Sir, we'd like to have a couple of passes for some R&R, please?"

"What for, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Well, sir, we'd like to have some time to visit my family, and if time permits, get married along the way." Margaret piped up quickly.

"You want to visit your family, and what?!

"Margaret and I want to get married. She also wants to introduce me to her family, that's why we would like the passes."

"Margaret, are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"Yes, sir, it is! I, more than anything, want to marry Hawkeye. Over the last couple of months, he's become my best friend, and we don't want to lose each other. Oh, and Sir, I just want to mention that we're not planning to make this public yet. We have some business to take care of with my family first, so please don't say anything to anyone."

"Well, then I'll get Klinger to get you the passes and make the necessary travel arrangements. But, let me be the first one to say that I wish you both nothing but happiness in live. Hawkeye, you had better treat her right, and Margaret, don't you let him get away. You both are like children to me, and I don't want to see either of you hurt. So, you go and have a good time on your trip."

**AN:** _Thank you all for reading my story. Next chapter will be about the trip, and Hawkeye meeting Margaret's family. Please Read and Review!_


	7. Author's Note

Author's note:

I have all but given up on completing this story. There are a few reasons why, but the main reason is that I have no more ideas as to where it should go. So, since I have brain freeze, if anyone wants has any ideas as to how it should continue, I give my permission to take over this story and make it yours(and hopefully complete it). Thank you all for the kind reviews and for being patient with me as I struggle through this horrible case of writer's block.

~Laurie~


	8. Premonition

**Author's Note**: Sorry it has taken me a while to post again. The note I made earlier made me want to take one last chance at continuing with the story. Thanks again!

**Chapter 7: Premonition **

The jeep ride to the airport was anything except boring. Corporal James was assigned to take the happy couple to meet their plane. Along the way, Hawkeye and Margaret had a hard time staying in their seats because the road was so bumpy and rutted. Bombs started raining down all over the road, and as if to add insult to injury, the jeep broke down. Walking the rest of the way into town, they spent the night at a motel that would make the 4077th look like a five star mansion. Once morning dawned the two medical personal made their way to the airport only to discover that they would not be allowed to board the plane and take off due to engine trouble.

Not anything out of the ordinary, right? Well, not to Margaret. She just could not get rid of the feeling that something strange was about to happen. If Margaret had known what was about to unfold, magic or no magic, she would have gone into her typical Major Houlihan mode and given her father a piece of her mind.

Her father, Alvin, was the corporal who had been their driver and the one responsible for the bad things that had happened. He was under cover, spying on Margaret and Hawkeye. Al wanted to see who his daughter was really interested in. He also wanted to find out how well they could handle life's little hiccups together without them knowing. In order for his little plan to work he needed to remain hidden from his daughter. Al was not the only one who really wanted to know who Margaret was bringing home, his wife and the rest of his family were extremely curious as well. He wanted to be absolutely sure that the man Margaret was sure to marry would be exactly the right man for her. It was only a father's love that drove Al to pry into his daughter's privacy.

Will Hawkeye be the right man according to Al? Does Margaret find out what her father is up to? We will just have to see what happens in the next chapter. Sorry for such short chapter.


End file.
